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You can’t ask me that: How well do you sleep?

“Did you sleep well?” It’s what we ask overnight guests at the breakfast table. It’s a morning variation on “how are you?” and as is the case with that tricky question, you’re only ever supposed to answer in the positive. “Yes, I did sleep well, thanks. Very comfy bed.” And yet for more and more of us, the opposite is true. We didn’t sleep well at all. We certainly didn’t sleep for long enough.

Hardly a week goes by without an article somewhere reminding us that we should be getting eight hours a night. It’s the World Health Organisation’s recommendation. Eight hours. That’s a third of a day. And still hold down a job and have a semblance of a family life and find the time to brush your hair? Fat chance, right?